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John Kerry emotional on Boston blasts

Secretary of State John Kerry grew emotional Wednesday as he talked about the bombings at Monday’s Boston Marathon and their impact on his friends in Massachusetts, which he represented for almost two decades in the U.S. Senate.

“It’s impossible for me to express my sadness and my anger, frankly, over those terrible events,” Kerry said as he opened his testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “It’s just hard to believe the Patriots’ Day holiday, which is normally such a time of festivities, is turned into bloody mayhem. But I know how resilient Bostonians are and I think a lot of you do, despite the fact it took us 86 years to win a pennant.”

“I’ve talked this week with friends and family up there, as recently as this morning, the granddaughter of a very, very close supporter and friend of mine through all of my political career is fighting to keep both of her legs,” the secretary said. He did not name the supporter or the injured person.

“Boston is not going to be intimidated by this,” Kerry insisted. “But we’re going to find out who did this. The police work being done is extraordinary. The FBI is remarkable. There’s a great deal of forensic evidence. We’re hopeful we can bring people to justice.”

Later in the hearing, Kerry declined to say whether he sees any parallels between the bombings in Boston and terrorist attacks that have taken place abroad.

”I’m not going to speculate. I have no evidence. It would be inappropriate for me just to cross any line here on that,” Kerry said in response to a question from Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.)

“Terror is terror. A bomb going off in a mass of people is a bomb going off in a mass of people. Whether it is homegrown or foreign, we just don’t know yet,” the secretary added. “Let people do their jobs, the forensic work and we’ll see where we are.”